<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001104659-23-059732.txt : 20230512
<SEC-HEADER>0001104659-23-059732.hdr.sgml : 20230512
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20230512160738
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001104659-23-059732
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	DEFA14A
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20230512
DATE AS OF CHANGE:		20230512

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0001158114
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	SEMICONDUCTORS & RELATED DEVICES [3674]
		IRS NUMBER:				760533927
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			DE
		FISCAL YEAR END:			1231

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		DEFA14A
		SEC ACT:		1934 Act
		SEC FILE NUMBER:	001-36083
		FILM NUMBER:		23915686

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		13139 JESS PIRTLE BLVD
		CITY:			SUGAR LAND
		STATE:			TX
		ZIP:			77478
		BUSINESS PHONE:		281-295-1800

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		13139 JESS PIRTLE BLVD
		CITY:			SUGAR LAND
		STATE:			TX
		ZIP:			77478

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS INC
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	20010824
</SEC-HEADER>
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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>UNITED STATES<BR>
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION<BR>
Washington, D.C. 20549</B></P>

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<P STYLE="font: 14pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>SCHEDULE 14A</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center">Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section&nbsp;14(a)&nbsp;of<BR>
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No.&nbsp;&numsp;&numsp;)</P>

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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">Filed by the Registrant <FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings">&#120;</FONT></FONT></P>

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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">Filed by a Party other than the Registrant <FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings">&#168;</FONT></FONT></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">Check the appropriate box:</P>

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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 5%"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings">&uml;</FONT></TD>
    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%">Preliminary Proxy Statement</TD></TR>
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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%"><B>Confidential, for Use of the Commission Only (as permitted by Rule&nbsp;14a-6(e)(2))</B></TD></TR>
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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 5%"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings">&uml;</FONT></TD>
    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%">Definitive Proxy Statement</TD></TR>
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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 5%"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings">x</FONT></TD>
    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%">Definitive Additional Materials</TD></TR>
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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%">Soliciting Material under &sect;240.14a-12</TD></TR>
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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 14pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS,&nbsp;INC.</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center">(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)</P>

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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center">(Name of Person(s)&nbsp;Filing Proxy Statement,
if other than the Registrant)</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate
box):</P>

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<TABLE CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; width: 100%">
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    <TD STYLE="width: 5%; font-size: 10pt"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings"><FONT STYLE="font-family: Wingdings">&#120;</FONT></FONT></TD>
    <TD STYLE="width: 95%; font-size: 10pt">No fee required.</TD></TR>
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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%">Fee paid previously with preliminary materials.</TD></TR>
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    <TD STYLE="font-size: 10pt; width: 95%">Fee computed on table in exhibit required by Item 25(b)&nbsp;per Exchange Act Rules&nbsp;14a-6(i)(1)&nbsp;and
    0-11.</TD></TR>
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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS,&nbsp;INC.</B></P>

<P STYLE="text-align: center; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt"><B>13139 Jess Pirtle Blvd.</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>Sugar Land, TX 77478</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>Supplement to the Proxy Statement</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>to be held on June&nbsp;8, 2023</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">This supplement, dated May&nbsp;12, 2023 (the
&ldquo;Supplement&rdquo;), supplements the definitive proxy statement of Applied Optoelectronics,&nbsp;Inc. (the &ldquo;Company&rdquo;),
dated April&nbsp;28, 2023 (the &ldquo;Proxy Statement&rdquo;), and is furnished to the Company&rsquo;s stockholders in connection with
the solicitation of proxies on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company for the Company&rsquo;s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders
to be held on June&nbsp;8, 2023, or any postponement or adjournment thereof (the &ldquo;2023 Annual Meeting&rdquo;). This Supplement
is being filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is first being made available to the Company&rsquo;s stockholders
on or about May&nbsp;12, 2023. The Proxy Statement and this Supplement are available free of charge at http://www.proxyvote.com.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>THE PROXY STATEMENT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION
AND THIS SUPPLEMENT SHOULD BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE PROXY STATEMENT.</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">This Supplement updates, and to the extent inconsistent
therewith, supersedes, the disclosure in the Proxy Statement to reflect that Proposal 5 of the Proxy Statement, which seeks stockholder
approval of an amendment to the Company&rsquo;s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized
shares of common stock from 45,000,000 shares to 80,000,000 shares (&ldquo;Proposal 5&rdquo;), is a &ldquo;routine&rdquo; matter, and
as such, is eligible for discretionary voting by brokers and other nominees under applicable rules.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">Pursuant to the New York Stock Exchange (&ldquo;NYSE&rdquo;)
rules, if you hold your shares through a broker or other nominee (i.e. in &ldquo;street name&rdquo;) and do not instruct such broker
or other nominee on how to vote your shares, your broker or other nominee is not permitted to vote your shares in its discretion on &ldquo;non-routine&rdquo;
matters, but is permitted to vote your shares in its discretion on &ldquo;routine&rdquo; matters. Although the Company&rsquo;s shares
of common stock are listed for trading on the NASDAQ&reg; Global Market, brokerage firms and nominees that are members of the NYSE generally
abide by the rules&nbsp;of the NYSE with respect to matters regarding the exercise of discretion in the voting of shares on behalf of
beneficial owners of those shares. Accordingly, you should expect that your broker or nominee will follow the rules&nbsp;of the NYSE
in determining whether it has discretion to vote your shares in the absence of written voting instructions from you.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">In the Proxy Statement, we described Proposal
5 as a &ldquo;non-routine&rdquo; matter. We have since determined that the NYSE will likely consider Proposal 5 a &ldquo;routine&rdquo;
matter. <B>Accordingly, if your shares are held in street name and you do not submit voting instructions to your broker with respect
to this proposal, under applicable NYSE rules, your broker or other nominee <U>CAN</U> vote your shares with respect to Proposal 5.</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">The sixth paragraph in the subsection titled
&ldquo;<B>Vote Required to Adopt Proposals</B>&rdquo; on page&nbsp;2 of the Proxy Statement in the section titled &ldquo;<B>SOLICITATION
AND VOTING</B>&rdquo; is hereby revised in its entirety to read as follows:</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in">&ldquo;Proposal No.&nbsp;5.
Approval of Proposal No.&nbsp;5 requires the affirmative vote of a majority of our outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote
at the Annual Meeting. Abstentions will have the same effect as a vote against the proposal, and there should be no broker &ldquo;non-votes&rdquo;
on the proposal because brokers have discretion to vote on this proposal, as described in more detail below.&rdquo;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0"></P>

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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">The subsection titled &ldquo;<B>Effect of Abstentions and Broker Non-Votes</B>&rdquo;
on page&nbsp;2 of the Proxy Statement in the section titled &ldquo;<B>SOLICITATION AND VOTING</B>&rdquo; is hereby revised in its entirety
to read as follows:</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>


<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in">&ldquo;Shares not present
at the meeting and shares voted &ldquo;Withhold&rdquo; will have no effect on the election of directors. With respect to all proposals,
shares will not be voted in favor of the matter if they either (1)&nbsp;abstain from voting on a particular matter or (2)&nbsp;are &ldquo;broker
non-votes.&rdquo; For Proposals No.&nbsp;4 and 5, an abstention will have the same effect as a vote against such proposal. If your shares
are held in an account at a bank or brokerage firm, that bank or brokerage firm may vote your shares on Proposals No.&nbsp;2 and 5, but
will not be permitted to vote your shares of common stock with respect to Proposals No.&nbsp;1, 3, and 4 unless you provide instructions
as to how your shares should be voted (where no instructions are provided, this is a &ldquo;broker non-vote&rdquo;). If an executed proxy
card is returned by a bank or broker holding shares which indicates that the bank or broker has not received voting instructions to vote
on Proposals No.&nbsp;1, 3, and 4, the shares will not be considered to have been voted with respect to such matters, but will be considered
present for the purposes of establishing quorum for the Annual Meeting. Your bank or broker will vote your shares of common stock on
Proposals No.&nbsp;1, 3, and 4, only if you provide instructions on how to vote by following the instructions they provide to you. Accordingly,
we encourage you to vote promptly, even if you plan to attend the Annual Meeting.&rdquo;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">The subsection titled &ldquo;<B>Vote Required
and Board of Directors Recommendation</B>&rdquo; on page&nbsp;55 of the Proxy Statement in the section titled &ldquo;<B>PROPOSAL NO.
5 APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT TO AMENDED AND RESTATED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION TO INCREASE AUTHORIZED SHARES OF COMMON STOCK</B>&rdquo;
is hereby revised in its entirety to read as follows:</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in">&ldquo;The affirmative vote
of a majority of the outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting is required to approve this Proposal
No.&nbsp;5.</P>

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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: center"><B>THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS
THAT YOU VOTE &ldquo;FOR&rdquo; THE CHARTER AMENDMENT AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PROXY STATEMENT.</B>&rdquo;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0; text-align: justify">Except to the extent described in this Supplement,
none of the items or information contained in the Proxy Statement are affected by this Supplement. This Supplement does not provide all
of the information that is important to your voting decisions at the 2023 Annual Meeting. The Proxy Statement contains other important
additional information. We encourage you to carefully read this Supplement together with the Proxy Statement in their entirety. If you
have already returned your proxy or voting instruction card or provided voting instructions, you do not need to take any action unless
you wish to change your vote.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0pt 0"></P>

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